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Home→Tags COVID Relief

Tag Archives: COVID Relief

3/6 Senate Continues Vote-A-Rama on COVID19; News & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on March 6, 2021 by BennyMarch 6, 2021

Senate continued voting on bill; it passed 50-49.

Arizona Dem sends this, tells me it’s going around after Sinema’s minimum wage vote today. Ouch. pic.twitter.com/jpPIlGBsba

— Adrian Carrasquillo (@Carrasquillo) March 6, 2021

If the $15 bill vote was still open until 9:15pm last night, why wasn't there any negotiation with the Hateful 8 about extending the number of years to get to $15? Seems as tho' most of the negotiation was about UI benefits rather than $15.

— Benny🌹 (@Benny06) March 6, 2021

Senate is still voting voted on ridiculous GOP amendments, yet, Bernie’s bill was not allowed to included as an amendment. While Bernie wanted to get the votes on record when the media was watching, I don’t quite understand why he didn’t introduce it anyway, or why there wasn’t any horse trading, such as $14 per hour and over 4 years, rather than no increase at all.

Following the U.S. Senate’s vote against an amendment to raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hr as part of the COVID relief bill, Chicago McDonald’s worker and #FightFor15 and a Union Leader Adriana Alvarez released the following statement. pic.twitter.com/yJ2PDviBeE

— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) March 5, 2021

More news, tweets, etc in comments.

Posted in Bernie Sanders, Democrats, News | Tagged COVID Relief, Fight For $15

2/8 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on February 8, 2021 by BennyFebruary 8, 2021

lhan Omar Warns Progressives Will Revolt If Dems ‘Poison’ Relief Bill by Curbing Eligibility for $1,400 Checks

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota warned Sunday that conservative Democrats’ ongoing effort to impose additional restrictions on eligibility for the new round of $1,400 direct payments risks shedding progressive support for a final coronavirus relief package—votes that the party, clinging to narrow majorities in the House and Senate, can’t afford to lose.

“Cutting the income cap will poison this bill,” tweeted Omar (D-Minn.), the whip for the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). “It already lacks Republicans support and will lose progressive support. Democrats with a slim majority in the Congress can’t pass this bill without progressives and must resist suggestions that will ultimately tank this relief bill.”

“Cutting the income cap will poison this bill. It already lacks Republicans support and will lose progressive support.”
—Rep. Ilhan OmarOmar was referring to ongoing talks among Senate Democrats over whether to lower the annual income cutoff for the new round of relief checks with the stated goal of ensuring the payments are more closely “targeted” to those in need. According to the Washington Post, top Democrats are currently weighing a plan under which only individuals earning $50,000 a year or less, heads of household earning $75,000 or less, and married couples earning a combined $100,000 or less would be eligible for full $1,400 payments.

A growing chorus of progressive lawmakers is strongly pushing back against that proposed eligibility framework, which could leave millions of struggling middle-class people with smaller checks or no payments at all.

“There are some Dems who want to lower the income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to $50,000 for individuals, and $150,000 to $100,000 for couples. In other words, working-class people who got checks from Trump would not get them from Biden. Brilliant!” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who along with Omar and others has been pushing for recurring relief payments for nearly a year—tweeted sardonically on Saturday night.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a CPC member, echoed the Vermont senator. “It would be outrageous if we ran on giving more relief and ended up doing the opposite,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “It’s sad that this is even an argument in the Dem party. Covid relief is disaster relief, and it’s urgent.”

To pass a coronavirus relief package through the reconciliation process without Republican support, the Senate Democratic caucus cannot afford a single defection. House Democrats, meanwhile, hold just a 10-seat majority, meaning that even a relatively small exodus of CPC members could imperil the coronavirus relief package—a state of affairs that potentially gives the chamber’s progressive contingent significant leverage over the ongoing negotiations.

NBC News reported late last week that the eligibility framework remains a “live ball,” with conservative and progressive members of the Democratic caucus publicly and privately battling over who should receive the new round of payments. President Joe Biden has said he is open to lowering the income cutoff for the checks, and discussed the possibility of narrowing eligibility with Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) at the White House last week.

Progressive activists and commentators have argued that in addition to being morally unjustifiable amid such a far-reaching economic collapse, limiting eligibility for the $1,400 payments would be politically “suicidal” and represent yet another retreat from the original campaign-trail promise of $2,000 relief checks that helped Democrats take control of the Senate.

“Let’s be really, really clear. Doing this will cost Democrats control of the Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024,” Robert Cruickshank, campaign director at advocacy group Demand Progress, said last week. “There is nobody out there in America aside from a few wonks who want to limit these checks. It is a colossally bad idea.”

More news, tweets, videos in the comments section.

Posted in Activism, News, Open Thread | Tagged COVID Relief, Ilhan Omar

2/5 News Roundup and OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on February 5, 2021 by BennyFebruary 5, 2021

Senate vote paves way for passage of Biden’s economic relief plan

The Senate approved a budget bill early Friday that paves the way for passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with Vice President Harris casting the tiebreaking vote on the measure that will be key to enacting Biden’s first major legislative initiative.

Passage of the budget bill by a 51-to-50 vote came just after 5:30 a.m. Friday, after an all-night Senate session during which senators plowed through dozens of amendments in a chaotic process known as a “vote-a-rama.” Democrats cheered on progress to address the pandemic, while Republicans complained of partisanship and excessive spending.

The House, which approved its own budget bill on Wednesday, is expected to act on on the Senate’s version within a day.

With the budget resolution nearly complete, Congress can turn in earnest to writing Biden’s expansive pandemic relief proposal into law — and push it through the Senate, without Republican votes if necessary, under the special rules unlocked by the budget legislation. That process will take weeks, with Democrats eyeing mid-March as the deadline for final passage of the relief legislation because that is when enhanced unemployment benefits will expire if Congress doesn’t act first.

“With the passage of this resolution we have the opportunity not only to address the pandemic, to address the economic collapse, to address the reality that millions of kids have seen their education disrupted,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “We have the opportunity to give hope to the American people and restore faith in our government to fight for them.”

Despite Biden’s campaign promises of unity and bipartisanship, now that Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House they appeared ready to leave Republicans behind. Republican senators accused Democrats of hypocrisy and argued that, after already devoting $4 trillion to fighting the pandemic, including $900 billion in December, there was no need to spend another $2 trillion on what they termed a wish-list of liberal priorities.

“This is not the time for trillions more dollars to make perpetual lockdowns and economic decline a little more palatable,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “Notwithstanding the actual needs, notwithstanding all the talk about bipartisan unity, Democrats in Congress are plowing ahead. They’re using this phony budget to set the table to ram through their $1.9 trillion rough draft.”

The House passed the budget legislation on Wednesday, with all Republicans opposed.

The agenda of the budget resolution passed today is not the agenda of wealthy campaign contributors. It is not the agenda of the billionaire class. It is the agenda of the working people of America and with its passage we are closer to restoring their faith in our government.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 5, 2021

More news, videos, etc in the comments section. TGIF!

Posted in Bernie Sanders, News, Open Thread | Tagged COVID Relief, US Senate

1/21 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on January 21, 2021 by BennyJanuary 21, 2021

Morning Birdies,

Team Biden is rolling out a broad plan regarding COVID:

The “National Strategy for the Covid-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness,” previewed in a 21-page summary on Wednesday evening by Mr. Biden’s advisers, outlines the kind of muscular and highly coordinated federal response that Democrats have long demanded and President Donald J. Trump refused. Instead, Mr. Trump insisted that state governments take the lead.

David Dayen:

Biden's use of the Defense Production Act today is for vaccine supplies but seemingly not vaccines or vaccine ingredients. Some of that was already done under Trump but it means no real bump in actual vaccine production, unless another vaccine is approved.

— David Dayen (@ddayen) January 21, 2021

Important to have vessels but no more production of the vaccine?

Now we really are back to brunch. Check out the Senate Calendar here. Days marked with a Square around them are days the senators are not in session.

More news, tweets, videos in the comments. Sure Happy It’s Thursday!

Posted in News, Open Thread | Tagged COVID Relief

12/29 Bernie To Fillibuster the Defense Bill Override & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on December 28, 2020 by BennyDecember 29, 2020

Just coming out of Politico:

Sanders to Delay Defense Veto Override in Bid for $2000 Checks

Sen. Bernie Sanders will filibuster an override of President Donald Trump’s defense bill veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans.

“McConnell and the Senate want to expedite the override vote and I understand that. But I’m not going to allow that to happen unless there is a vote, no matter how long that takes, on the $2,000 direct payment,” Sanders said in an interview on Monday night. The Vermont independent can’t ultimately stop the veto override vote, but he can delay it until New Year’s Day and make things more difficult for the GOP.

The House passed the payment boost sought by Trump and Democratic leaders on Monday evening, and Trump said the Senate has agreed to “start the process” on a stimulus checks vote when he signed the $900 billion relief bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has yet to address the timing of such a vote.

Under Senate rules, Sanders has the ability to keep the chamber in during the holiday week and likely mess with the campaign schedules of Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.). Those two face Jan. 5 runoff races for control of the Senate against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who are both campaigning on the $2,000 checks.

A source close to Sanders said the Senate races were a factor in his decision — part of a bid to keep Perdue and Loeffler in D.C. and focus the campaign on their position regarding the $2,000 checks. Sanders also threatened to shut down the government earlier this month if the coronavirus relief bill did not include direct payments; ultimately it included checks of up to $600 and the government stayed open, though now Trump wants to go much higher.

Though veto overrides can be filibustered, as Sanders plans to do, it is a rare procedural move because the veto override already requires 67 votes and the filibuster is simply a delay tactic, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Sanders said he hopes McConnell allows a vote on the checks on Wednesday.

Leave it to Bernie and his experience in Congress. And it was so worth every penny I contributed to his campaigns. He’s not a backbencher!

More tweets, videos, news, etc in the comments section. Sure Happy It’s Tuesday!

11:20 AM CT: Bernie on the senate floor. Schumer has already requested consent to vote on the House bill. McConnell objected, Bernie has started his fillibuster.

UPDATE: Here’s the speech:

Bernie on the Senate floor today. https://t.co/FCsUbYoTVQ

— J Graham (@JayeGraham20) December 29, 2020

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Posted in Bernie Sanders, Open Thread | Tagged COVID Relief

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